If anyone has earned the right to judge the current state of American film, it’s Steven Spielberg. The legendary director behind such classic films as Jaws, E.T., Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s List, Spielberg has made his undying love for cinema unwaveringly clear since his career began in the late 1960s.
As further proof of this fact, the 78-year-old Oscar winner recently provided his thoughts on the film he feels more deserving of being called the “greatest American film ever made” — an honor he bestows upon the iconic 1972 crime film, The Godfather.
Speaking at the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony, Spielberg and fellow Indiana Jones collaborator presented the prestigious award to their close friend Francis Ford Coppola, the eccentric filmmaker behind The Godfather Trilogy, Apocalypse Now and The Conversation.
Per Variety, Spielberg spoke at length about Coppola’s influence on his own career, as well as the director’s larger impact on American cinema.
“The Godfather, for me, is the greatest American film ever made,” Spielberg said before Coppola and the AFI audience in attendance. “Many artists can and do take a bow from their work on a page, on a canvas, on a screen, but our applause for you, Francis, is from a different kind of audience. When we’re young, it’s our parents we want to make proud, and then it’s our friends, and then it’s our colleagues, and finally, it’s our peers, but you, sir, are peerless.”
Continuing on, Spielberg said that he continues to create films that he hopes might impress his 86-year-old colleague, living up to the same heights established by Coppola in The Godfather, The Outsiders and so many other timeless American movies.
“You have taken what came before and redefined the canon of American film, and in so doing, you’ve inspired a generation of storytellers who want to make you proud of their work, proud of our work, and I always want to make you proud of my work,” Spielberg said during his speech, addressing Coppola directly.
